Weekend Recap @ Wekiwa Springs

I hope everyone is feeling refreshed from the weekend! We've had a lovely balance of at-home time and exploring/adventurous time this weekend. We got a new lamp for the living room that reminds me of an old city street lamp, like the street lamps in Paris. It adds the perfect warm glow during summer evenings spent in our living room. 

I've had a lovely weekend even though I got summoned for jury duty again. Last time I had class all day and couldn't make it. Now I don't have the excuse of class, but I do have a flight that day to Austin, TX to visit my friend! Also, it's time to renew my Florida Cosmetology License. I have to do some continuing education in order to renew it, which isn't so bad, but it is a little tedious. It's a small task in order to always have my beauty license which I take so much pride in. I worked so hard to get it that I hope to always have it, even if we move out of state.

One of the nicest things that we've done in a long time was canoeing this past weekend. We woke up early on Saturday morning to beat the crowds to the canoes at the local springs. We packed plenty of water bottles, sandwiches, and wore our swim suits to meet our friends there. I didn't bring my camera out of fear that we would capsize the canoe and it would be nearly impossible to ensure it's safety. Even though I took sailing lessons one summer as a kid, I still fear capsizing to this day. 

We canoed the farthest of all the morning canoe and kayak duos, not realizing how close we still were from our starting point until we checked the map. Those moments on the river with just lily pads, tall grass, cicadas chirping, and a tunnel of Floridian trees with no one else around us, those were the moments that were relaxing and beautiful. My dad gave me binoculars that I once brought on my trip to Costa Rica a few years ago, and now got to use them again on our canoe trip. I didn't see any big alligators, only baby ones, but we definitely heard the bigger ones grunt from the grass. There were plenty of turtles hanging out on the fallen branches within eyesight, stretching their legs (legs?), and there were a couple of herons and egrets that I could catch mid-flight through the binoculars. There were also a decent variety of insects like dragonflies, damsel flies, pond skaters, and two different types of water-skiing spiders. 

When we arrived there was a grassy hill that led down to the end of the spring, where the ground was rocks and the water cold and see-through. The green and blue hue of the spring water looked so inviting, so we thought we'd relax in the cold spring after canoeing up-stream on the way back. We were hot from the summer sun and exhausted from paddling so the chilly dip was the perfect way to end it. The only downside was at 9 am the spring was empty with just a few bathers and at 2 pm, when we finished canoeing, there were tons of bathers. There were lots of families, loud children, and groups huddled around grills and good food. It was all fun, but not exactly the kind of atmosphere we expected around a serene spring. Next time, we're willing to travel even farther for a quiet canoe and an even quieter dip in a spring.